


hold on

by talesofthelotus



Series: XINGTOBER 2020 [17]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Outer Space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofthelotus/pseuds/talesofthelotus
Summary: the spaceship left mars 749 days ago.
Relationships: Huang Zi Tao | Z.Tao & Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Series: XINGTOBER 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959373
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	hold on

The spaceship left Mars 749 days ago. There have been times when Yixing hasn’t seen friends _or_ family for longer than that, but never a time when he was unable to see friends _and_ family. He’s used to having someone on his side and he's used to touch.

On the third ship with passengers en route to Europa he has nobody. Almost nobody, at least; he has a few mice, one salamander, and his cats. Lulu and Luobo belonged to every crew member before, but now they’re stuck with him, and he with them, so Yixing has decided they’re his and only his. They let him pet them several minutes each day so he guesses they don’t take issue with that.

He is not a scientist, he doesn’t know how any of this works. He just remembers that he was warned to not turn Artificial Gravity on and off for fun, to not let any of the animals in the operating rooms, and to turn on the communicators for one hour each week to report if the journey is following the intended course. It is, so far. The fact that he’s not the first to embark on this journey gives him confidence that he’ll make it, and he’s ready to repeat that today, just like every past week. He's used to having someone on his side and he's used to touch, but he's slowly getting used to mere sight and sound.

Lulu bumps his head against Yixing’s forearm.

“Hey, buddy,” he says, scratching the cat’s head as he shuffles through today’s statistics. Four more Martian bases have been destroyed. They had reached about sixty bases in total before the natural disasters that had struck the earth had moved onto Mars as well, sandstorms and cyclones that ruined everything in their wake.

He’s tired. Zitao is several minutes late — or at least Yixing thinks it’s minutes, there is a clock that follows Earth time on the wall, but he never checks it. Maybe he should have, this is his one human connection after all. 

It says 08:51. He’s tired. Lulu meows. He turns the communicator off and on again. 

The screen remains blank. Yixing remains looking at it.

He checks the clock again. 13:04. The screen is still blank. 

Yixing is not sure what that means. He doesn’t want to be sure what that means either. Lulu doesn’t meow again, but he buries himself closer, as if sensing.

Yixing keeps turning the communicator off and back on, and the screen keeps remaining blank. That's okay, probably, he'll get used to having nobody on his side and nobody to touch, and no sight or sound. 


End file.
